rangerssuck wrote:
On May 11, 2:09 pm, DougC wrote:
On 5/11/2011 12:33 PM, rangerssuck wrote:

On May 11, 10:28 am, "Lloyd E. Sponenburgh"
lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote:

So, I get more than a whole year's worth of mowing from one set of
blades, and a new set of three is about $40. For me, at least, it's
worth it to get that "golf course" look in the front of my
property.

Aside from the golf course look, what benefit do you derive from
your
lawn? In my mind, the grass in front of my house is nothing more
than
a weed. It serves no purpose whatsoever. If it was up to me, we'd be
growing edible vegetables instead (our vegetable garden is in the
back
yard).
.....
Here are some thoughts about the tremendous waste of resources and
money that go into a putting green front
yard:http://www.primalseeds.org/lawns.htm

Some people have HOAs that say how the lawn must be maintained.

My [small] yard is crabgrass though. I think I sharpened the blade
up a bit in 2009. I use Roundup on the difficult edges so trimming
with a weedeater is not necessary. The weedeater is a 2-stroke, but
it's not the emmisions I care so much about--it's that since fuel
left in the weeder will always foul the carb, it has to be drained
after every use for it to start properly next time. Too much
craptane in modern fuels anymore.

I like to call lawn care "recreational farming".
Suburban people spend money on little machines and irrigation and
chemicals to plant, raise and harvest a tiny crop--that they don't
really do anything with. But they have fun with the challenge, and it
keeps them in the suburbs where they belong.

Eventually I plan to move to the US desert southwest, and my lawn is
going to be rocks and dirt. I'm just fine with that, quite frankly.
Among the highest form of comedies is people who move to a desert and
then spend money trying to grow a green lawn.

Recreational farming is, I guess, fine. My vegetables would likely
fall into that category as well - I don't really grow enough to make a
significant dent in my food budget and the economics probably don't
work out well, but I don't keep track of that money. However, if one
is going to go to all the trouble of maintaining a lawn, why not put
that effort into something that's useful? Lloyd flies model planes off
his lawn, and that is (to me) the best reason to have any sort of lawn
(I have to drive 5 miles to the local model airfield). But as far as
something nice to look at? If I had property that large, I'd probably
till the whole thing and scatter mixed wildflower seeds and let it run
wild. Easy enough to mulch a few paths out to sitting areas to avoid
having to wade through the brush.


There are places in th US southwest that now have unbearably high
pollen counts because of morons who moved there and brought their
lawns and trees and flowers. The real (tragic) comedy is that many of
these people moved there for the LOW pollen count.

olive and mulberry trees are the worst in this area, and were banned from
being sold for quite a few years now. a lot of people pay a bunch every year
to have existing trees sprayed so they don't produce pollen.

regards,
charlie
phx, az